Figured I’d keep a log in hopes that it’ll help others out. This is my first cycle.
tl;dr - skip to the === AAS === tag if you don’t care about background
Background - 26 y/o, 225lb @ 6’2" and about 12% BF. 10 year training history, currently competitive powerlifter in the 220lb class. Competing for 3 years with current best competition numbers 445 (raw w/ wraps) / 305 / 555. That was a year ago and I’m on track for about 485 / 325 / 565 in a competition soon. That’s without the new “supplements” I’m taking of course.
I’ve been considering AAS since I was 18. I’m glad I waited since I’ve made some accomplishment I’m reasonably proud of. I’ve gotten to the point where I feel I’ve dialed in every variable (diet, training, recoevery) pretty well. Not perfectly, and I’d be lying if I said I’d tried every avenue possible ever. But I am consistent and work my ass off.
Over the last 5 years I’ve missed less than 2 scheduled training days a year - that includes training when sick. I’ve eaten hellishly strict diets for 6+ months straight (and after that stuck to it, just loosened it a bit). Further, I’ve read Anabolics (the '09 edition) cover to cover twice, read through tons of stuff on TNation, HyperMuscle, and a few other forums and read plenty of other material as well.
All in all, I felt the time was right to try out AAS. I know how I learn and I can’t get that much more out of book learning. Some will agree with that decision and some won’t, I’m not trying to change your minds, just explain my decisions for others to learn from what I do right and wrong.
I’ll get to the cycle in a second, but here’s diet and training split:
Diet:
Minimum 250g protein, ideal 300g protein a day from whole animal sources. No protein powder, just whole foods. This breaks down into 5-6 meals of 50g of protein over the course of the day, 2-3 hours apart.
300g carbs a day - spread out into each meal. This is pretty much just 1 cup of dry oats per meal (or at least that has been so for 3 months now. I’m pretty good with monotony).
Whatever fats come from the above. I don’t track fats. Meat is mainly bison so not super lean but not super fatty.
I can talk about other diets I’ve done in the past (CBL, High Fat, Paleo) if people are interested, I’ve run all of those for 6+ months each (strict) but I’ll skip that for now.
Training is currently managed by top powerlifter. I don’t want to go into specifics for anonymity reasons as most coaches have something their known for. I have 4 main training days a week which start focused around the main lift, with 8-10 sets in the 80-90% range and then run about 4 accesories per day, also fairly heavy and large compound movements. My “off” days are extra volume for my hips, groin (don’t underestimate it), VMO and core.
=== AAS ===
My main goal is to learn how my body reacts to pure Testosterone. Gains are seconday to be honest. I’d like moderate LBM increase and moderate strength gains with minimal sides. If I run this and gain only one pound and no strength, that’s fine. If I gain no weight and 5 pounds on the squat, that’s fine. I really just want to dip my feet in the water and see how I react to low dosages.
First Cycle is basic, minimal and short - only 2 weeks. After that I’m taking 2 weeks off and reevaluating. Plan is for another 2 week cycle then of Test and Tren (300/300).
This cycle:
Day 1 - 100mg Test Prop.
Day 2-14 - 50mg Test Prop.
(total 350mg / wk test)
Day 1-14 Adex @ .25mg EOD
Day 15-28 Nolva @ 20mg / day
A couple explanation points:
- 350mg / week seemed high enough to be supraphysiological and to notice effects but not high enough to be near dangerous territory.
- I chose a short cycle (a series of them) because I don’t want a large mass gain, and I want to minimize HPTA shut down because of some timing issues around when I’ll be coming off.
- I chose Test Prop for three reasons - (A) I can run it for 2 weeks only (B) If I see negative sides or turn chickenshit it clears my system in a short time (C) I can manipulate the dose mid-cycle if I need
- I’m running adex because after seeing all the sides of too low estrogen vs. too high estrogen, I’d rather flirt on the too-low side. Plus, I want to minimize water retention. I’ll be getting bloodwork done a week in and will readjust based on Estradiol levels.
- Bridging with Nolva (day 15-28) was on the fence, but seemed better safe than sorry. I haven’t seen many (any?) posts about “I accidentally used nolva in PCT and it made things way worse”.
I wanted to throw Tren and either Anavar or DBol in this cycle, but I took the advice of “keep it simple” first cycle - so I kept it brutally simple.
I’ve already done the first shot, I’ll write that up in another post since this one is already brutally long